Havana Cuba – The Cuban Health Minister, José Angel Portal Miranda, announced this Sunday the number of positives for the new coronavirus amounted to 139, when 20 cases were registered, while the island still awaits the greatest blow of the disease.
Portal Miranda appeared today on national television to point out that in Cuba, until March 28, 2,317 patients are in isolation, of them 115 foreigners and 2,202 Cubans, while 30,642 are under surveillance in their homes by family doctors .
The doctor said that yesterday, Saturday, 297 tests were made, of which 20 of them were positive. So far 1,665 tests have been made, of which 139 have confirmed the presence of COVID-19.
“There are three sites for testing. Right now, in these centers they carry out an average of 300 daily, but we can do up to 1,000. The results of the analyzes never take more than 24 hours, “said Portal Miranda, who explained that Cuba is still waiting for the rapid tests from China and that the local tests are carried out from the seventh day to show symptoms, since they can give false results. negatives.
The minister reversed the position expressed by Cuba on Saturday and maintained that the island is not in an epidemic stage, as only one case of local transmission has been registered. He explained that when generalized and unrelated cases arise, they will declare the epidemic phase.
He maintained that the worst is yet to come and that the population must be prepared.
“We are entering the most complex stage … In the coming days, no one should be surprised that the number of cases increases. We are waiting for that to happen and that is why our research is active. We believe that the actions that the country is taking will make it easier for us to ensure that the curve that the epidemic has had in other countries does not behave in the same way in Cuba, “he said, adding that the country has planned extreme measures to confront the disease. , including the total closure of communities, municipalities or provinces.
“We have planned measures for each stage. It has been explained, every day we think that we can do more in the current scenario in Cuba. Therefore, we anticipate measures of the epidemic phase before the pre-epidemic, to vary the disease curve. Tomorrow a community, municipality or province can be quarantined. But the greatest action that can be taken now is to think about how to individually guarantee the greatest possible social isolation, ”he said.
The most affected municipalities are Plaza de la Revolución and Playa, in Havana; Cárdenas, in Matanzas; Santa Clara, in Villa Clara, and Trinidad in Sancti Spiritus, all enclaves closely linked to tourism, which has been banned on the island until the emergency is appeased.
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